Cell phone use in pregnancy may lead to behavioural disorders in offspring

Women using a mobile phone while pregnant could be risking the health of their unborn baby, researchers have warned.

Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that exposure to radiation from cell phones during pregnancy affects the brain development of offspring, potentially leading to hyperactivity.

The results are based on studies in mice.

"This is the first experimental evidence that foetal exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones does in fact affect adult behaviour," said senior author Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

Taylor and co-authors exposed pregnant mice to radiation from a muted and silenced cell phone positioned above the cage and placed on an active phone call for the duration of the trial. A control group of mice was kept under the same conditions but with the phone deactivated.

The team measured the brain electrical activity of adult mice that were exposed to radiation as foetuses, and conducted a battery of psychological and behavioural tests.

They found that the mice that were exposed to radiation tended to be more hyperactive and had reduced memory capacity. Taylor attributed the behavioural changes to an effect during pregnancy on the development of neurons in the prefrontal cortex region of the brain.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a developmental disorder associated with neuropathology localized primarily to the same brain region, and is characterized by inattention and hyperactivity.

"We have shown that behavioural problems in mice that resemble ADHD are caused by cell phone exposure in the womb," said Taylor.

"The rise in behavioural disorders in human children may be in part due to foetal cellular telephone irradiation exposure," he said.

Taylor said that further research is needed in humans to better understand the mechanisms behind these findings and to establish safe exposure limits during pregnancy. Nevertheless, he said, limiting exposure of the foetus seems warranted.

First author Tamir Aldad added that rodent pregnancies last only 19 days and offspring are born with a less-developed brain than human babies, so further research is needed to determine if the potential risks of exposure to radiation during human pregnancy are similar.

"Cell phones were used in this study to mimic potential human exposure but future research will instead use standard electromagnetic field generators to more precisely define the level of exposure," said Aldad.

The results are published in the latest issue of Scientific Reports, a Nature publication.